The Supreme Court will hear an appeal in the long-running case between Apple and Epic Games
The antitrust case between Apple and Epic Games is heading to the highest court in the US. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from
The antitrust case between Apple and Epic Games is heading to the highest court in the US. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from Apple over a contempt ruling in a legal battle that's been chugging along for nearly seven years. According to Reuters, the justices are expected to consider the appeal in the court's next term, which commences in October. A ruling is expected by June next year. In April 2025, District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in contempt of a 2021 ruling that required the company to let developers direct users to third-party payment options for in-app payments.
This would have let them bypass the commission Apple typically takes. Epic had accused Apple of "malicious compliance" by instead charging developers up to 27 percent on sales made via links to third-party payment systems. (Apple had long taken a 30 percent cut of App Store payments before halving that for many developers in 2020.) An appeals court largely upheld the contempt ruling in December, though it struck down an order that prevented the company from charging commissions on external payments at all.
As such, Apple will be able to present new arguments to Rogers about what it can charge for such payments. In 2024, the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from both Apple and Epic in the long-running case. Last month, Justice Elena Kagan declined a motion to stay the contempt ruling. Apple also argued the injunction requiring it to allow third-party payment options should not apply to developers other than Epic. However, the justices will not consider that point.
"We're heading to the Supreme Court where we'll continue to fight against junk fees Apple charges on third-party payments," Epic wrote in a statement on X. "Lower courts have rightly found Apple's fees to be illegal and anticompetitive and we'll continue to defend free markets." Update, June 30, 2026, 4:57PM ET: Added Epic's statement.
The BriefWire